People have long been fascinated, entertained, and enlightened by logic-based puzzles. The enormous variety of such puzzles provides wondrous delight to both children and adults, and studies have confirmed that analytical thought of the type elicited by such logic-based puzzles can improve one's capacity for learning and recalling information. Though a number of factors relate to the enjoyability of a particular logic-based puzzle for a particular person, the level of complexity, the configurability of the pieces, and the presence of colors and/or sounds may all contribute.
Of the many types of logic-based puzzles, one that is known and presents a logical puzzle somewhat akin to that presented by an embodiment of the invention is a 4.times.4 square grid having fifteen slidable tiles numbered 1-15 occupying fifteen of the sixteen spaces within the grid. Tiles can be slid sequentially into the empty space in the grid, thereby altering the relative positions of the numbered tiles. The typical solution to such a puzzle is obtained when the tiles are numerically ordered 1-15 reading left-to-right across the columns and then down the rows.
Another well-known logic-based puzzle is the Rubik's Cube.RTM.. Although this cube-shaped puzzle having six faces each including a 3.times.3 grid of nine colored stickers has an appearance similar to an embodiment of the invention, it actually is very dissimilar in construction and solution logic. The stickers adhere to 26 plastic pieces emanating radially from a central core. The various perpendicular planes of eight or nine pieces are rotatable about the central core to reconfigure the cube and the arrangement of stickers thereon. The typical solution to this puzzle is obtained when all nine stickers one each face are of identical color and each of the six faces of the cube has stickers of a different color from each of the other five faces.
As many other logic-based puzzles exist using recognizable patterns of colors, letters, numbers, and the like to distinguish solution states from non-solution states, consumers desire puzzles that provide a "twist" from more conventional ones.